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Take Charge of Your Destiny

Dream bigger than you think you are.

~Marnee

Hi Everyone,

Team support, mentorship, a plan, resilience, and an eye on the horizon…these are qualities that helped TinyEYE become a leader in on-line therapy. These are also qualities that helped me cross the finish line at the Fit Mom 10k race! How many of you relate to this – each day you give all of yourself to contribute to the life around you. Then one day, you realize there is no more you left. Well, the day came when I said, “Marnee, where have you gone?” I needed a plan, support, and accountability. I decided that I wanted to be a person who finished a 10 kilometer race.

Step one: At midnight, I signed up for a Fit Mom run group, just hours before the first Saturday run.

Step two: Saturday morning, I got out of bed before the kids (which translates into ‘way too early’) and met with a bunch of tired but hopeful moms at the river. We would meet every Saturday morning for 10 weeks and then eventually finish our agenda with a 10 kilometer race.

Step three: Day One – I started running down the path with my water bottle jiggling at my side. I was thinking, “Yes, I can totally do this…I am like a gazelle just gliding along….” Then, I was the mom who slid, stumbled, skidded, and rolled down along the paved path, just like the stunt men do when they jump from a moving car. I opened my eyes to see all the moms standing over me. Fine, they figured me out. I am not a gazelle, but more like baby giraffe trying to find its legs. They picked me up and we kept clumping down the trail.

Step four: I continued the plan – each week I met with the moms and our mom-trainer. Under her direction, I completed my in-between runs on my own. Sometimes these happened at night, after the kids were in bed. Other times, I ran pushing a stroller, holding onto a leash with a fluffy black dog yanking on the other end, while trying to keep up with my daughter who rides her bike much too quickly for these shoes. The point is, I had a specific plan and I held it up on a pedestal – it was my road to being a “person who finished a 10k race”. In the mean time, I started to value sleep and nutrients above chaos and fatigue. While I was on the long, long road to reaching my goal, all sorts of other “me” things started to naturally fit into my life to support this end goal. I love this type of multi-tasking!

Step five: I showed up for the race. That was a great start. Our trainer was there pinning numbers on our shirts and reminding us that we could in fact finish this race…it was ours to have. When the starting gun blasted, all the moms pushed forward. We pushed past sleepless nights, past crazy schedules, past all the times when we won ‘worst mom of the year award’, and past all those sticky fingerprints on the walls that we just could not live without. As I ran for me, I was feeling such a runner’s high while I trotted up this long hill. I could hear people screaming my name. I thought, “Wow – I even have fans”. Then I realized that it was my teammates who were screaming at me. Five minutes into the run and I was already going up the wrong hill. I am so grateful that they had my back.

The trick that really helped us to run the race was the 10 and 1 routine. We ran for ten minutes and walked for one minute. We repeated this over and over. I finally learned the value of a breather once and while. I now plan breathers into each day.

Near the end, I decided I was going to give it my all. Looking back, I thought the end was much closer than it really was. It was a long ending! Tired but exhilarated that I was likely going to finish, I started thinking about how much of my aspirations, resilience, and diligence came from my greatest mentor…my mom. I could never even have started this race if she had not instilled in me all the inner-qualities that naturally force me to take charge of my destiny. With one kilometer to go, I called my mom on my cell phone. Of course when she heard me running and shouting into the phone, she became very panicked. I had to stop for a moment and explain how I wanted her to be with me for this last leg. So there we went, me running like a giraffe and my mom bellowing “Go Marnee…you can do it!” on the speaker phone…just like during all the other races, skating competitions, dancing routines, speeches, all-night studying, and child bearing events in my life. …my mom and I crossed that finish line…and I became “a person who finished a 10k race”. I am the far left in red in the picture, #1218! I just might become “a person who finished a triathlon”, too. Check in on me next July.

Key points to ponder:

1. Plan a breather at regular intervals during each hour, day, week, year….

2. Surround yourself by hopeful, supportive people who will not hesitate to tell you that you are running up the wrong hill.

3. Decide you are worthy of a dream come true. Put as much effort into you as you do your life. “I will be a person who __________”.

4. Progress is what happens while you are moving forward. Be patient with you.

5. Success is not another word for ‘easy’. Success is earned.

6. The need for instant gratification will spoil the ending. Find comfort in the journey.

7. Cherish the lessons you learned as a child and appreciate the inner strength you instill in your children.